Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGI) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $81.80.

SIGI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Selective Insurance Group in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Selective Insurance Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Selective Insurance Group from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Selective Insurance Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Selective Insurance Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 3.0% in the first quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 4,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its holdings in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 28,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Selective Insurance Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 8,559 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $694,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Selective Insurance Group by 16.3% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,079 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.88% of the company’s stock.

Selective Insurance Group Stock Up 1.9%

SIGI stock opened at $78.15 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $79.22 and a 200-day moving average of $81.22. Selective Insurance Group has a fifty-two week low of $71.75 and a fifty-two week high of $97.94. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.04 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. Selective Insurance Group had a return on equity of 12.96% and a net margin of 7.78%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Selective Insurance Group will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Selective Insurance Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Selective Insurance Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Selective Insurance Group’s payout ratio is currently 26.50%.

About Selective Insurance Group

Selective Insurance Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance products and services in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Standard Commercial Lines, Standard Personal Lines, E&S Lines, and Investments. It offers casualty insurance products that covers the financial consequences of employee injuries in the course of employment and bodily injury and/or property damage to a third party; property insurance products, which covers the accidental loss of an insured's real property, personal property, and/or earnings due to the property's loss; and flood insurance products.